Meet Merrill Grambell, the first bot to host a PAX panel

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Watch Highlight: PAX EAST 2019 – DRAGONFLY THEATRE – We Made a Bot Watch 1000 PAX Panels, And It’s Moderating This One from PAX3 on www.twitch.tv

Last week at PAX East, I ended up on a panel with the developers of Soda Drinker Pro, one of the producers of Home Movies, and a talented stand-up comedian. The panel was moderated by a Max Headroom-style virtual host named Merrill Grambell who used a procedural generation system to ask us questions like “If you had a sword, what sword do you have” and “What is a secret song you like to sing?”

There were at least 300 people in the audience, which only added to our stress as we attempted to answer these questions in a natural, engaging way. Later, someone would give birth, and an apple would steal the show. In fact, the only part of the panel that didn’t really land with the crowd was scripted by the writers of Fraiser, so we didn’t feel too bad about it.  

Yes indeed, by the end of the night, several people told me that they were crying form laughing so hard. Then they asked us to sign autographs. I was shocked. Maybe you had to be there? I don’t know, because I was there, and I still don’t really get it.

I think you should decide for yourself. The panel starts around the 2:45 mark. Good luck. You might need it. We sure did. 

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Jonathan Holmes
Destructoid Contributor - Jonathan Holmes has been a media star since the Road Rules days, and spends his time covering oddities and indies for Destructoid, with over a decade of industry experience "Where do dreams end and reality begin? Videogames, I suppose."- Gainax, FLCL Vol. 1 "The beach, the trees, even the clouds in the sky... everything is build from little tiny pieces of stuff. Just like in a Gameboy game... a nice tight little world... and all its inhabitants... made out of little building blocks... Why can't these little pixels be the building blocks for love..? For loss... for understanding"- James Kochalka, Reinventing Everything part 1 "I wonder if James Kolchalka has played Mother 3 yet?" Jonathan Holmes
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